Modest Mouse - The Lonesome Crowded West (1997)

Here we find a little of everything -- a turntable adding scratches to the conventional rock sound of "Heart Cooks Brain", a down-by-the-river fiddle on "Jesus Christ was an Only Child", a few pop nuggets and several longer pieces with a half-dozen tempo changes.

Thematic glue binds the musical sprawl, with stream- of- conciousness lyrics touching on the familiar Mouse topics of suburban decay, the lonely road, confusion and dislocation. Frontman Isaac Brock's lyrics are like a glass table at an SNL cast party, with finely-chopped lines pointing in all directions: "My brain's a cliff/ and my heart's the bitter buffalo" ("Heart Cooks Brain"); "I'm drowning upside down/ my feet afloat like Christ's" ("Styrofoam Boots"). When a band's oldest member is twenty-three, the active word is usually "potential." Modest Mouse, however, have arrived. (Pitchfork ca. 1997)

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The Books - The Lemon of Pink (2003)

The Books are a band founded by and consisting of American Nick Zammutoand Dutchman Paul de Jong in New York City in 2000. Their music is a mix of aleatoric, electronica, folk, and acoustic music (de Jong is a cellist and Zammuto plays acoustic guitar and electric bass), incorporating samples of sounds, speech and music. They have released three albums, all on the German label Tomlab. (Wikipedia)


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Animal Collective - Water Curses EP (2008)

Released on May 6. The first three tracks were recorded during the 'Strawberry Jam' sessions of 2007. AC's label, Domino Records had this to say about the EP:

"All four tracks have a more stripped down feel than their recent work on Strawbery Jam [sic]. Opener 'Water Curses' mixes mixing carousel and calypso throwing unexpected rhythm up, down and sideways to produce the sound of a smile. And 'Street Flash' is nearly seven minutes of spaced out hollers, electronics and lullabies that sounds like it's made of honey. 'Cobwebs' is equally languid. Weaving itself around a defiant vocal mantra "I’m not going underground" and boosters of Gospel organ sounds like it's imagining some new kind of space church for Al Green to conduct weddings until it slowly fades away into a sticky ether. The EP's final track takes the celestial feel into even more blissed-out states. 'Seal Eyeing' is the moment you realise watching vapour trails melt into the sky is not only the most constructive thing you can do, but the only real option that’s left."

1. Water Curses
2. Street Flash
3. Cobwebs
4. Seal Eyeing


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Animal Collective - House (LIve at Coachella 2008)

new song from AC. Thanks to Sean Mallon for showing me this.

Black Moth Super Rainbow - Dandelion Gum (2007)

"From the plasticky surges of 1970s synth to the mood ring-ish flourishes of flower child flute, from the dream-state vocodered words to the glitch-stepped drum rhythms, every sensation this album evokes seems a bit too large for the real world." (PopMatters)

Made up of members Tobacco, Power Pill Plus, the Seven Fields of Aphelion, Iffernaut and Father Hummingbird, Black Moth Super Rainbow put out one of the best albums of 2007 and definitely the most tripped out. Check out the albums 'Falling Through a Field' and 'Start a People' for more lysergic synths and beats.

1. Forever Heavy
2. Jump Into My Mouth and Breathe
3. Melt Me
4. Lollipopsichord
5. They Live in the Meadow
6. Sun Lips
7. Rollerdisco
8. Neon Syrup for the Cemetary Sister
9. The Afternoon Turns Pink
10. When the Sun Grows on Your Tonguw
11. Spinning Cotton Candy in a Shack
12. Drippy Eye
13. Lost, Picking Flowers in the Woods
14. Caterpillar House
15. Wall of Gum
16. Untitled Roadside Demo
17. 225

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Panda Bear - Youth Prayer (2004)

Written after the death of Panda Bear's father in 2004.

Nine unnamed tracks


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